#11 - Global Reference, Parallel

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[shanhickey]

Hello! could we get an explanation for this one? I found myself between B and E, but went with B. I knew that one of the authors had a positive perspective and the other was critical. I thought that B worked in showing this just as well as E, so I guessed 50-50.

Thanks,

Shannon

[Robert Carroll]

Shannon,

You're right that the author of passage A has a positive perspective and the author of passage B has a negative perspective. That doesn't validate answer choice (B), though - the first title of that answer is entirely neutral. It doesn't give any indication that the author thinks the predictions are accurate - one can easily discuss computer models without thinking the models are accurate to any degree. In fact, the second title isn't negative, either - one can discuss margins of error without thinking those margins of error are very large. Answer choice (B) is a classic Shell Game wrong answer for a Parallel Reasoning question. It talks about the same topic as one of the passages, but topic is never something we need to parallel, and the test-makers will often throw in an answer that contains a similar topic as a wrong answer.

Answer choice (E) does have what we want - a positive, optimistic opinion for passage A and a negative, pessimistic, dismissive opinion for passage B.

Robert Carroll

[mkarimi73]

When doing this particular type of question: "Which one of the pairs of essays, based on what can be inferred from their titles, is most analogous to Passage A and B, respectively?" ... Are we looking for tone, main point, views, arguments, etc? Out of the VIEWSTAMP elements that PowerScore likes to teach, which would you say are the most important when doing a question like this one, especially when it says "based on what can be inferred from their titles."

I ask this question because I've seen these frequently on Comparative Passages, and it seems like tone seems to be the major focus in determining the correct answer (and main point/views, of course). However, I am having trouble understanding how "Computers as Thinking Machines" implies a more positive tone than "Computer Models for Predicting Elections." Couldn't an author of "Computer as Thinking Machines" also write in a neutral, academic tone, describing how computers can function as thinking machines without any indication of the author's opinion on the topic?

[Adam Tyson]

Tone and Main Point will be crucial to answering these kinds of Parallel Reasoning questions, mkarimi73, but we should also be thinking about our prephrase of the relationship between the passages. That, to me, is where answer B fails the most. I do think "computers as thinking machines" suggests a positive view about what computers can do, while "computer models for predicting elections" is just descriptive, but even if we see them both as somewhat neutral, we have to balance that analysis with how these statements relate to the second part of each answer choice.

In answer B, the second part of the answer is not pointing out a conflict or disagreement with the first part of the answer. It's not a pro/con kind of relationship, but more of a description of a purpose vs a description of one aspect (margin of error is not inherently a negative; it's just a description of the math involved). That pairing is not laying out a claim of "here's what they can do" against "no, not really."

In answer E we can more clearly see the pro/con relationship at work in the passages. The first part suggests that computers can do something, while the second part says they cannot. The first part of the answer, when lined up together with the second part, suggests a positive view vs a negative one of the same claim.

Tone and main point do matter, but we also have to look at the whole answer in terms of the relationship.

[lsatquestions]

A & C also have the positive/negative tones. Can you please explain why those are incorrect?

[Robert Carroll]

lsatquestions,

For answer choice (A), the problem is that there is a change of topic. The first part of the answer is about the future of computing, and the second is about futurists' predictions being bad in general - no limitation to computing. The passages are both at the same level of generality, about the same topic - passage B does not go any broader than passage A.

For answer choice (C), the second part of that answer isn't negative at all. Asking a question does not imply that you think you already know the answer - the answer to the question "Will Computing Hit a Speed Bump?" could be...."no"! In that case, both parts of answer choice (C) could be positive. We thus don't know the tone of the second half of answer choice (C) at all.

Robert Carroll